{"id":556562,"date":"2026-07-18T21:09:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T21:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/556562\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T21:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T21:09:18","slug":"perfect-atmosphere-for-country-music-fans-flock-to-slane-castle-for-luke-combs-concerts-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/556562\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Perfect atmosphere for country music\u2019: Fans flock to Slane Castle for Luke Combs concerts \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boot-cut jeans, cowboy hats and brown leather shoes made up the marching uniform for the thousands of people who made the trek \u2013 or pilgrimage, depending on your persuasion \u2013 to Slane Castle<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

US country music star Luke Combs<\/a> is due to take to the stage for the first of two nights at the Co Meath<\/a> venue. My Kinda Saturday Night is the name of the tour, and definitely the vibe here.<\/p>\n

When Suzy Stafford and Alice Adomeit-Lavoine, two friends from Northamptonshire, England, learned about the European tour dates being announced, they thought of organising a road trip around Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we were going to come over a week in advance,\u201d Stafford said, \u201cand then we just plotted out the route, with Slane being the last stop. We\u2019ll be on the ferry back tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Stafford has been a fan of Combs for some time, Adomeit-Lavoine said she \u201cwas dragged along for the road-trip. I didn\u2019t even know who he was two months ago, but I started listening to his music because I didn\u2019t want to be left out\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"FriendsFriends Alice Adomeit-Lavoine and Suzy Stafford soak up the sun at Slane before the show <\/p>\n

\u201cI like the music now, it\u2019s quite varied, he has great songwriting and melodies, too. But I\u2019m not like proper \u2018country, country\u2019 now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Stafford said: \u201cI\u2019ve got an eclectic music taste, too. Next year we\u2019re off to see [rock band] Blink-182 in France. So, it\u2019s pretty random.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there is a big American country music scene in Northamptonshire \u201cthen I don\u2019t know about it\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

And she probably will not be joining in anytime soon. \u201cI think the music is my limit; I\u2019m not going line-dancing any time soon. I mean, I don\u2019t even listen to that much country music besides Luke Combs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fan S\u00e9verine Gruner arrived in Dublin at 10pm on Friday and just over 12 hours later was walking down country roads towards Slane Castle.<\/p>\n

The Swiss native could have chosen one of the many cities in which Combs is stopping off on the European leg of his international tour: Paris, Amsterdam, London or Edinburgh were calling. Instead she chose the Co Meath town for its country vibe as the venue for her first Combs concert.<\/p>\n

\"SéverineS\u00e9verine Gruner, from Le B\u00e9mont Jura, in Switzerland, at Slane <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re surrounded by the countryside here,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s fields of horses and cows all around us. It\u2019s the perfect atmosphere for country music.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she finds cities, even Dublin, far too loud, and travelling to one for a large concert would only make this worse. \u201cThe people are so stressed in big venues, but here it\u2019s super calm and lovely, very slowed down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gruner\u2019s love of American country music goes back to her early childhood, visiting car shows in Switzerland to see Mustangs and Chevrolets. \u201cCountry music was what we would listen to in the evening \u2013 well, actually, for the whole day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, a friend introduced her to Combs\u2019s music. \u201cThe sound is incredible. It\u2019s deep. It\u2019s heavy. It\u2019s emotional. That\u2019s what I love,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen he sings, it sounds like thunder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expected 160,000 people who are coming to see Combs perform this weekend will surely give him an equally thunderous applause, turning Slane Castle into a Nashville-style party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boot-cut jeans, cowboy hats and brown leather shoes made up the marching uniform for the thousands of people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,11123,15949,10866,13081],"class_list":["post-556562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-luke-combs","tag-meath","tag-music-festivals","tag-slane-castle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}